


The Sound of Love

by raptormoon



Category: Moana (2016)
Genre: F/M, Falling In Love, I mean we already know that part but still, Love, Minor Character Death, Realization, Romance, Singing, Sweet, book your dentist now folks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-04-24 00:14:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14343921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raptormoon/pseuds/raptormoon
Summary: For the Moana Spring Exchange:Tui realizes he's in love with Sina.





	The Sound of Love

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prompt fulfillment for the Moana Spring Break Exchange 2018; I stepped in to write this when the original had some problems pop up. That happens! I hope you're doing okay!!!
> 
> From DistractibleDingo's prompt: Tui realizes he's in love with Sina.
> 
> I hope you all enjoy!

Tui Waialiki doesn’t remember the first time he met Sina. She was just always there, another child in the village. They learned stories together, they played together, and all of the other things that children do. Along with all of the other children in the village, they all did things together.

Tui _does_ remember that he did not like Sina. Not one single bit. She was a tattle-tale, a stick in the mud, always wanting to do things right. She could recite all the stories by heart before he had even a handful memorized. She could weave a basket in a fraction of the time that he could.

She could sing like nobody’s business.

Tui’s other friends didn’t like her either. And Sina and her friends tended to avoid the rowdy boys, keeping to their own company most of the time. But whenever he heard them singing, Tui would tag along, or hide somewhere nearby, just to listen. They were all good, sure, but Sina’s voice had a pure, liquid quality to it, and Tui’s ears always chased it.

~~~

“Sina,” Kotiro nudged her in the arm. “Tui’s back there again.”

Sina rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Let him be a little creep; he’s not bothering us.”

“Yeah, he just likes to listen to us sing!” piped up little Pai.

“More like he likes to listen to _Sina_ sing!” Atamai said slyly, and the other girls giggled.

Sina only rolled her eyes again, but smiled at her friends’ teasing.

~~~

When they were a little older, Tui and the boys were a little braver. They would swim as close to the reef as they dared, or jump down from high rocks or from halfway up the palm trees. They dared each other to great feats of strength, agility, and courage, and the more the girls were watching, the riskier these dares became. Tui didn’t look for Sina when he would race on the beach or hurl sticks, but he often heard her there. Her voice carried in a way that didn’t happen with the others, almost as if the wind wanted her words to reach his ears.

Not that Tui was listening for them, of course. Instead, he would launch himself down the beach, feet flying, sand kicking up behind him; and at the other end, he would cheer with his friends and chant and dance and everyone would congratulate each other, and the girls sitting on the sideways tree were the last thing on his mind.

~~~

“I want to run with the boys,” Kotiro said.

“Why don’t you?” Sina asked, looking from the boys back to her friend. “I know you could win against all of them!”

“That’s why she doesn’t,” Atamai said. “She’s always been faster than the boys. But what would the boys say about that?”

“What’s it matter what the boys think?” Pai asked, eyes wide.

Sina ignored them both, and put her hand on Kotiro’s arm.

“Never mind what anyone else says,” she murmured. “You are strong and fast, and you should show everyone exactly what you can do.”

Kotiro sat looking out across the sand for a long minute, biting her lower lip. Finally she nodded, and cast a grateful smile back to Sina.

“You’re right,” she said. “I should.”

“Then go!” Sina laughed, and gave Kotiro a little shove.

And Kotiro ran down that beach faster than any of the boys.

~~

They weren’t children anymore, but they weren’t really adults yet, either. Tui was learning how to be Chief, now; a duty he both revered and feared. He followed his father, listened closely and took the sage advice to heart. But he was also his mother’s son, and could not stand by to merely listen to his father. Some people he could listen to, for hours, but the Chief of Motunui was not one of them.

At first Tui rebelled in small ways. He would not wear his red tapa, or forget his headdress at home. Sometimes he showed up late, or didn't show up altogether. He would take the long way to Afo’s place, listening to Sina give advice to her friends as he rounded that particular curve in the path, and together he and Afo would daydream adventures or he’d help with Afo’s chores or they’d make wild, reckless plans of going beyond the reef.

Tui didn’t do this every day. He knew his father didn’t have the patience to put up with it. But he did it often enough that, eventually, he and Afo simply _had_ to act on their plans.

They snuck out at night. They took a canoe. They sailed beyond the reef.

~~~

Sina sat down beside Pai. “You should probably tell her,” she suggested, gently.

Pai’s hands were covering her face, and she shook her head. “How can I?” she muttered. “She’s had eyes for _him_ for so long. She doesn’t look at girls like that. She doesn’t look at _me_ like that.”

“The eyes don’t always tell us things,” Sina said. “We can look but not see. Sometimes it’s better to open your ears and listen, or open your heart and _feel.”_

Pai peeked out between two fingers, questioningly.

Sina smiled at her, and winked. “Her eyes might be following him, but she always turns her head when she hears you coming.”

~~~

Tui clung to a shard of what had once been his canoe. Capsized, broken, and so very far from home, the boat was barely a respite from the crash of waves and lash of rain. He heaved for breath, sobs tearing out of him.

He couldn’t save him. Afo was gone. The mast had splintered and struck his friend across the head; in his heart, Tui knew that Afo had been dead even before his body had fallen into the water. That hadn’t stopped Tui from diving after him, trying to save him. Afo was his best friend, and was out here all because of him!

His throat clenched and he fought back the heave of his stomach. He should have known better. He should have listened. He should have _listened!_

Well, he was listening now.

~~~

When the village realized that Tui and Afo were missing, they were concerned, because of course nobody should go beyond the reef! But they were also unsurprised; both boys had always longed for adventure, and always gone to great lengths to prove themselves courageous and strong.

But as days passed, the worry grew. Sina felt it particularly strongly, anxious for the two young men who dared more than anyone else. So she walked down to the beach, every evening, and watched for them.

As she watched, she sang. Small, mournful melodies, and hopeful refrains. Anything, just to be the voice that called them back home.

~~~

It had been difficult getting his canoe maneuverable again, but he managed. Tui and Afo had not made it so far away from home that Tui could not find the way back, but nonetheless he followed the faintest sounds of singing, words carried on the wind.  He knew that voice. That voice that had always called to his heart, even when he looked away.

He followed that song home.

 

She was there, on the beach, bathed in moonlight. She had seen him coming, he could tell, but she waited calmly nonetheless; as serene as the sand beneath her feet. She met him there, as he trudged, alone, out of the splash of the surf, and he saw the tears in her eyes.

Sina was the most beautiful person he had ever met, he realized. Her care for others, her wisdom and good sense, the way her words would sing to his heart. He loved her. He had probably always loved her, and never listened closely enough to realize it. With a sob, the grief of losing Afo still so heavy on his mind, he threw himself forward and embraced her. Tui cried then, from the loss of his friend but also from the weight of this new discovery.

And Sina… Sina sang for him.


End file.
